A series of profiles on members of the Buckeyes’ 2020 recruiting class who redshirted their true freshman seasons, including a look back at how their first year went, and an evaluation of where they stand in the program ahead of 2021.
Unlike several players we have and will profile in our Redshirt Review series, the path to a breakout campaign following a redshirt season in 2020 is quite clear for Miyan Williams.
In fact, if the Cincinnati, Ohio, native isn’t pushing redshirt junior running back Master Teague for his presumptive starting job as we speak, he is at least in direct competition for the No. 2 spot this offseason.
Ohio State offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said at the conclusion that the Buckeyes will require three running backs to play at a “championship level” this season, and if three backs are to receive legitimate carries in 2021, Williams is certainly favored to be among that group.
Few may have seen a rapid ascent coming for the Winton Woods alum, who stands at just 5-foot-8 and entered the Buckeye program as a three-star prospect, but his late-season exploits against a couple of the toughest defenses Ohio State went up against last year proved that Williams is eager to defy expectations.
With 2018’s NCAA rule change allowing a four-game leash for players during a redshirt season, Williams received the full extent of it even in last year’s COVID-shortened eight-game slate, as he saw live reps and carries in four contests in 2020.
It wasn’t until December that the diminutive 227-pound back began to truly show his upside though, as Williams ripped off a solid 28-yard performance on five carries against Michigan State, and bolted for a 10-yard gain on his single touch in the Big Ten Championship Game versus Northwestern.
The Sugar Bowl is what Williams will be remembered for most during his true freshman campaign though, as he delivered a bruising 15-yard rush for a third quarter first-down conversion in which a couple Clemson defenders felt the brunt of his physicality.
Ten carries may not be much to go off of, but the fact that Tony Alford and the Ohio State coaching staff felt comfortable enough to put a three-star recruit in the game on a running down in a College Football Playoff matchup as just a true freshman is telling in its own right.
The door isn’t exactly wide open for Williams in 2021, with Teague likely to hold down the status of RB1 in the season’s earlygoing, but third-year sophomore Marcus Crowley –– one year removed from an ACL tear –– could be Williams’ main competitor for the backup role.
True freshman TreVeyon Henderson is in the mix as well after an eye-popping spring by all accounts, but with so many cooks in the kitchen so to speak, it would be difficult to imagine the Virginia native usurping both Williams and Crowley entirely this early in his career.
With Teague sitting out most of the spring, Williams and Crowley both saw first-team reps, and the pair saw seven and nine total touches, respectively, in the spring game.
The pecking order at running back may not be completely sorted out until much further into the season, but from where things stand as of now, Williams is right in the thick of it.
